Did you vote????

I've been planning to do another post about my trip to Hawaii - it really wasn't ALL work for me. However, I'm admittedly obsessed....

I'm not sure that America got it right last night....American Id0l I mean. This is the time of year when I won't answer my phone on Tues or Wed eve for fear of missing a note - torture sometimes, yes. But I do love it. I agree with others that the women were much better than the men, but it's still early. This year doesn't have a frontrunner like Chris from last year although some of them are interesting.

I'm not good at all the names yet, but I think the right men went home. I do, however, think we got it wrong on the women. The chick that sang the pretenders song should have gotten the boot. She didn't sing one note in tune Ah well. sometimes the saps out there voting for the underdog get the wrong person kicked off the show. She should have gone and the white urban chick (Nicole - maybe) should have stayed - wrong song for her, but she really is a much much better singer.
Whada U think?

Aloha

Aloha,

I'm just back from a refreshing week long conference in Kona, Hawaii.
Beautiful.
My sister went with me. Her job was to keep the room in check, scout out the resort, and most importantly - mai tai research - a damn fine job she did.

Here's my morning.....





And here's hers!

Book group challenges

So tonight I'm hosting book group at my house. We've been meeting monthly since late '99 and it's an interesting and fun group of women. The way we work the group is that the host makes the main course and everyone brings everything else. The host also picks 3-4 books to choose from for our reading for the next month. My problem is that I've come to a creative halt (those of you awaiting sqishes will be feeling the impact of this).
In the group we have
1 vegerarian,
1 who doesn't eat beans,
1 with a gluten allergy
and 1 allergic to nuts.
Quite a challenge when creating the main course. I think I've found the solution here. It's cold - read 5 degrees - outside so I thought a warm soup will feel good - this one looks like it will taste good, too... So, for the archives, does anyone have any yummy recipes that are vegetarian, wheat and bean free, without nuts?

On to the book selection... again, no ideas - nothing is jumping out. The one suggestion I have is The Glass Castle which was recommended to me as a great read and uplifting story. The only other one I'm interested in reading these days is this one.

I'll let you know how the chowder turns out.

PS. If you're dying to see more pics of my crazy poodles, Kittbo took them to the park again and posted her photos here. She also has baby poodle Jackson with her - what a cutie. Warning: lots of pictures.